PICTORIAL STAMPS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12533, 20 April 1935, Page 7

PICTORIAL STAMPS

DOM UNION'S ATTRACTIVE ISSUE. FULL DESCRIPTION OF NEW' SERIES. A complete transformation in the postage stamps msec! in the Dominion will be seen on May Ist, when a new pictorial issue representative of some of the most interesting features charatoristic of New Zealand will be on sale at all post offices. Fourteen different stamps comprise the series, tho denominations running from a half-penny to 3/-. Great cure lias been taken in preparing this issue, and it. is nearly .four years since the Postal Dept. announced thaft it would offer prizes for tho bed designs -There were judged by a representative and well-qualified committees in New Zealand and the plates for printing were prepared in England where, the first impressions have been carried out. An initial experiment in which the photogravure process of reproduction was. used did net come up to expectations, and the intaglio or line-engraving process was finally adopted for all but ono of tho 'designs. This method gives clearness of fine detail, enabling full justice to be done to the conception of tho artist. It wil. he found by those who on May Ist handle these stamps that the intaglio process brings out prominent .features eff tho design in relief, thus providing good contrasts even when only one colour is used.

The 3U denomination, representing a typical Maori carving, is reproduced in the colours always used by the Maori —red ail'd black. It was found that lithography was 'the best method of printing in this case. In accordance with an international agreement, the predominant colour in the haft-penny must be green, the penny red, and the twopenee-halff-penny dark blue. In tho new Issue the twopence-lialf-penny,, four-penny and three-shilling-stamps are printed In two colours us they lend themselves to this effect, having a border with a vignette in the centre.

From the following description it will bo seen that it lias been possible to cover pictorially a very w:-de range of subjects, including New Zealand history, some of its scenery, Maori aid, its flora and fauna, and also one phase off its sport. In the null-penny denomination, the leading feature is the friendly 1 n'ttlic pied Jfantail with its beautiful tail of twelve feathers expanded. There is an appropriate surrounding of flic clematis. The designer is Mr James Fitzgerald, of Christchurch, and the colour is green beetle. New Zealand’s unique bird, the kiwi; figures in the penny .stamp which will be so much in use. It appears against a background of typical New Zealand scenery, including the ti-palm, while on each side of the stamp is a Maori carving design, and at the top the words “New Zealand” and four stars off the Southern Cross. Spaces’ between the border anti' the central vignette are filled in with sprays of tree-fern. The artists are Miss C. H. and Mr R J- G. Collins, of Christchurch, and the colour used is guardsman red. A young Maori woman lowering into k. boiling stream a kete for cooking is the subject of the penny-halfpenny stamp. She is wearing a plaited headband, and a piu-piu of flax blades. On the sides are panels representing the poupou which alternates with panels of reed-work along the inside walls of the larger Maori wharesThe artist is Mr M. Matthews, of Wellington, and the colour is copperbrown.

Another Maori subject is utilised for tho two-penny stamp which carries a representation O'f a typical carved Maori house set in sufrbundings of tree-fern and. cabbage-tree. Tho artist is Mr H. W. Young, of Auckland, and the colour is marigold. Tho use of two colours in 24d stamp produces an extremely artistic effect. There is a border printed in virtrixbluo in which the beautiful Mount Cook ranunculus is boldly drawn. In the centre, printed in beech-brown, appears Mount Cook as it : can ho viewed from u point above tile Hermitage. The artist is Mr L. C. Mitchell, of Wellington. The designer of the 3d stamp has sub-or.dinated ornamentation and thus given special prominence to a charming portrayal of the head of a Maori girl wearing a headband of plaited flax in which is thrust a buiu feather. On her breast is shown a tiki. The diamond enclosing the head is bordered with the Maori wave pattern which may perhaps be taken as the New Zealand equivalent of the

Greek key pattern, ami at the two top corners appear the carvtVJ faces known as koruru. The artist is (Mr L. C. Mitchell, of Wellington, and the colour chocolate. Mitre Peak, Milford Sound, could scarcely be excluded from a New Zealand pictorial issue, and this subject is utilise! in the 4d denomination, where it appears in a circular panel, surmounted by the Imperial crown, with borders utilising the leaves and flowens of the manuka. Tho stamp was designed by M r James Fitzgerald, Christchurch, and is printed in two colours, the centre black and border brown sepia, but tills -combination docs not produce a strong contrast. It is fitting that the exhilarating sport off deep-sea fishing which attracts sportsmen to New Zealand from all over the world -should find a place in the now pictorial issue in which the 5d denomination, printed in >a vivid Royal-blue, -shows a very lively striped rnailin breaching just off Piercy Island. The vent in the well-known natural inch in this rock formation is clearly .shown. The designers are Messrs NY. J. Conch and R. E. Tripe, of Wellington. The Od denomination is the only stamp of the serie>> designed by ‘an artists living -outside the Dominion— Mr T. I. Archer, of Nasik, India. Primed in a bright cherry, it depicts a harvesting scene and has border ■designs .suggestive of Maori motives. Tiic engraving of this stamp is particularly fine. In the 8d denomination there appears a boldly drawn representation of New Zealand’s unique lizard, the tuatara. In each of the four corners of the stamp is shown the beautiful perforated double spiral work, whoso perfection of form is seen in the ornamentation of the great war ounces of the Maori. This is another design from the pen of Mr L. C. Mitchell, off Wellington, and the colour utilised is brazil-nut.

Quite a different note is struck in tho 9d design reproducing in tile colours used by the Maori the carved ornamentation of the '.sliding panel Ctatau) of the door of his “dwelling.. The side borders show a combination design—first a zigzag which is the representation of water-surface in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and imposed on that the Maori wave pattern. The artist who is responsible for this unique design is Mr I. F. Calder. of Wellington. Tlio “design for the Is «tamp submitted by Mr L- C. Mitchell, of Wellington, contains a very fine study of N'ew Zealand’s inimitable songster, the tui. Its white ,feathers at the throat and the collar of long white curved feathers on the hack of its neck ,ulso the touch of white on the angle of its wings have not been overlooked by the artist, and all these details are clearly reproduced in the engraving. The bird is shown perched on a branch with a pleasing forest background. The colour is bottle green. A very definite point in New Zealand history is depicted in the 2/denoniiriation which shows the landing of Captain Cook at Poverty Bay on October Sth, 1769, those facts being clearly indicated in the engraving. A ti-palni or cabbage tree, flanks the right-hand side of the stamp and a tree-fern the left-hand side. The words “New Zealand” in solid letters appear in a white scroll at the top, and this is nicely balanced by die representation of tlio value at the bottom left-hand corner in a white shield and the words “Postage and Revenue” also on a white background in the right-lnind corner. The artist is Mr T. H. Jenkins, of Inver, eargillj and the colour is Cyprusgreen.

In the 3/- denomination, goldenbrown and nigger-brown have been effectively utilised to present another scenic feature. In an oblong panel appears Mount Egruont and Fail? tlmm’s Peak with the snow down to tho bush line, while the rich agricultural lands df Taranaki appear in a foreground full o* interesting detail. This central panel is printed in the darker colour. Tho border carries Maori' motives, and into it lias been worked the value and other necessary wording. This stamp Avas designed by Mr Mitchell, of Wellington, and it is. a great tribute to his skill and originality that ho should have been able to secure prizes for five designs out of thcnjourtecn.